This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: BBC
March 28, 2010
An intricately carved 17th Century cup which had been in a North Lincolnshire attic for 25 years has sold for four times its estimated price at auction.
The Chinese libation cup, which is made out of a rhinoceros horn, had been valued at between £20,000 and £30,000.
But it went for £80,000 at an auction house in Brigg on Saturday.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 27, 2010
Researchers believe they have found evidence of real natural disasters on which the ten plagues of Egypt, which led to Moses freeing the Israelites from slavery in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, were based.
But rather than explaining them as the wrathful act of a vengeful God, the scientists claim the plagues can be attributed to a chain of natural phenomena triggered by changes in the climate and environmental disasters that happened hundreds of miles away.
They ha
Source: CNN
March 28, 2010
Former first lady Barbara Bush was admitted Saturday to a hospital in Texas for routine tests, a spokeswoman said.
The former first lady was taken to Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. She had not been feeling well for about a week, said Jean Becker, the chief of staff for Bush's husband.
Bush, 84, is expected to stay at the hospital for a day or two, Becker said. Details on the testing were not immediately available.
Becker, the chief of staff for forme
Source: CNN
March 27, 2010
Civil rights activist Dorothy Height, 98, remained in "very serious, but stable condition" Saturday, her friend and spokeswoman said.
A flurry of rumors about Height's death appeared Saturday on the Internet, particularly on the social networking site Twitter, where her name was a trending topic. Wikipedia also briefly reported Height's death.
Height remains hospitalized, according to Alexis Herman, her friend and former secretary of labor under President Bill
Source: BBC
March 25, 2010
The Bangladeshi government has set up a tribunal to prosecute those accused of committing war crimes during the country's war of independence in 1971.
The government says it will put on trial those Bangladeshis who at the time collaborated with Pakistan.
Forces from Pakistan are accused of killing many civilians.
In its doomed bid to suppress independence 39 years ago, Pakistan's army unleashed terror against those suspected of supporting secession.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 27, 2010
Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" has been banned in Russia in an attempt to combat the growing allure of far-Right politics.
Russian prosecutors on Friday banned the 1925 semi-autobiographical book, saying its outline of racial supremacy encouraged extremist and violent behaviour.
Despite including tracts that are both anti-Jewish and anti-Russian, it has become increasingly popular among Russia's far-Right groups.Russian extremist
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 27, 2010
Vatican officials say they expect two million people to view the Turin Shroud, the cloth said to have covered the body of Christ, when it goes on display next month.
The linen sheet bearing the image of Jesus has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, sceptics and Catholics for more than 500 years.
It is due to go on display for six weeks after Easter and among those who are due to view it are Pope Benedict XVI. Vatican off
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 27, 2010
For more than a century, Munshi Abdul Karim was derided as a jumped-up servant who refused to know his place in Queen Victoria's household.
After arriving from the subcontinent in 1887, he quickly won the monarch's devoted affection and became known as the "Indian John Brown".
His influence over the queen was so envied that when Victoria died her son King Edward ordered palace guards to destroy correspondence she sent to the Munshi to erase all record of thei
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 26, 2010
Shanghai's Bund, once known as the "Wall Street of Asia", will reopen on Sunday after a painstaking £280 million two-year restoration to bring back a touch of its 1930's glamour.
The stately waterfront, alongside the muddy Huangpu river, was built by the British and was the hub of colonial life in Shanghai until the Japanese invaded the city in 1941.
Tons of stone were shipped in from Hong Kong, marble from England and Italy and bronzework for the facades of
Source: The Australian (AU)
March 26, 2010
NOT since the Irish Republic was founded has a pint of stout been allowed to emerge from behind a pub bar on Good Friday.
However, a legal ruling now means that Limerick is the place to be on April 2, Christendom's most solemn day, for those wishing to witness a peculiar - and perhaps slightly unsteady - piece of Irish history being made.
Publicans in Limerick, the capital of Irish rugby, have been granted a special exemption and will be allowed to open on Good Friday f
Source: WaPo
March 26, 2010
Happy Friday! With roughly one week until census forms are due, a group of Confederate rights activists is urging southerners with Confederate ancestors to declare themselves "Confederate Southern Americans" on census forms in order to qualify for national origin protection under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Federal law makes it illegal to discriminate because of a person's birthplace, ancestry, culture or language. The South Carolina-based Southern Legal Resource Center bel
Source: The Post and Courier (SC)
March 25, 2010
The 'Big Red' flag linked to Citadel cadets firing on a Union ship before the Civil War could be preserved with the help of a new state license tag.
State Rep. Chip Limehouse on Wednesday introduced a bill that issues a special tag that would bear the image of the red banner with white Palmetto tree and crescent....
Source: AP
March 26, 2010
Hundreds of prime acres are up for grabs in this waterfront city and its neighboring towns, valuable commodity on an island known for prized beaches, lavish homes and natural beauty.
The 260 acres on Aquidneck Island were for decades owned by the U.S. Navy, which says it no longer needs the land and is moving to unload it. The island communities envision the property as untapped economic potential for sweeping new development.
But another suitor — the Narragansett India
Source: AFP
March 26, 2010
A painting of the famed bank robber and bushranger Ned Kelly has sold for 5.4 million dollars (4.9 million US), smashing the previous record for an Australian artwork sold at auction.
Sidney Nolan's "First Class Marksman", which shows the outlaw in his iconic homemade armour and pointing a rifle, was known as the "missing Nolan" because it is the only one in a series of 27 not at the National Gallery of Australia.
The 1946 canvas was bought by an ano
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
March 26, 2010
A coffin placed on a Missouri congressman's lawn. Bricks thrown through the windows of numerous Democratic Party offices. Death threats via phone, e-mail and fax flooding congressional offices....
"It all makes me ill," said Leonard Zeskind, president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, which has tracked the tea party movement. "It is a level of mendacity, social mendacity that has gripped
us."...
Violence has reare
Source: BBC
March 25, 2010
Six renowned Scots are to become a daily inspiration to MSPs as they carry out their work at Holyrood.
The Scottish Parliament has announced it will name its committee rooms after historical figures who made a significant contribution to the nation.
The six rooms are currently known only by number.
Poet Robert Burns and explorer David Livingstone are among those to be picked from a list of 170 nominations proposed by 45 MSPs.
Source: BBC
March 26, 2010
Army divers have recovered an old mortar bomb from a Cumbrian lake.
The device was found in about 9ft (3m) of water in the Bowness Bay area of Windermere by local divers on a night exercise on Thursday.
They confirmed that the shell, which is believed to date back to World War II, was harmless.
Source: BBC
March 25, 2010
Scientists have identified a previously unknown type of ancient human through analysis of DNA from a finger bone unearthed in a Siberian cave.
The extinct "hominin" (human-like creature) lived in Central Asia between 48,000 and 30,000 years ago.
An international team has sequenced genetic material from the fossil showing that it is distinct from that of Neanderthals and modern humans.
Details of the find, dubbed "X-woman", have been pu
Source: BBC
March 26, 2010
A dog which sailed aboard the Mary Rose ship 465 years ago has taken up residence in the Mary Rose Museum at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
The animal's skeleton, which has been reconstructed by staff at the Mary Rose Trust, went on display on Friday.
The dog was discovered trapped in the sliding door of the carpenter's cabin of the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545.
The dog, named Hatch by museum staff, was probably used as a ratter and was about two year
Source: BBC
March 25, 2010
Scientists have found the first evidence that tyrannosaur dinosaurs - relatives of the famous T. rex - existed in the southern hemisphere.
Previously, tyrannosaurs had only been known from fossil finds in northern continents, the team of researchers write in Science journal.
Now, a hip bone found in Australia has been identified as belonging to a southern relative of T. rex.
